The company which owns online poker giants PokerStars and Full Tilt, Amaya, has recently released its figures for the third quarter of 2015 revealing both a notable drop in share prices and an increase in its control of the world online poker market.
An estimated 71% of the global online poker market is now held by PokerStars and Full Tilt – with the former comprising the lion’s share of 68%, and the latter having a much more modest 3% share. The company has said that by of the end of September this year it has approximately 97 million registered customers worldwide, a number which has been steadily increasing year on year.
As well as this positive information, Amaya has also revealed that there has been a recent drop in its company’s share prices; its stock was down more than 30%, leaving its overall revenue over $200 million lower than predicted. Amaya has been forced to adjust their profit guidance for 2015 by a significant amount, from a range of $1.456 billion – $1.564 billion to $1.289bn – $1.339bn.
When asked to explain the changing stock fortunes of the company, Amaya allocated blame to the strength of the dollar, which led to a 19% decline in the purchasing power of its customer base, and consequently had a higher impact on the company than expected.
Amaya has also had other issues to contend with recently, including the “temporary cessation of operations in Portugal and Greece” and the pause placed on development of its online sportsbook and casino. Rather than pushing full steam ahead with plans to roll out the new sites, the company decided to spend more time on improving customer product experience.
The fact that the online poker market is beginning to contract has had an effect Amaya, as more countries begin to regulate and tax the industry more rigorously.
New developments within the company include the much-awaited launch of PokerStars in New Jersey, USA next year. The site is planning to being online poker operations in the Garden State in early 2016. Due to the fact only land-based casinos are able to receive the Internet Gaming Permit that is required by law to operate an online poker site in New Jersey, PokerStars will be partnering with Resorts AC.
PokerStars NJ will however be completely separate from the worldwide PokerStars.com, therefore players in the state will only be able to play poker against other bettors located within New Jersey state.
